The Joy of the Lord...

This morning, I re-read a wonderful little email I got from a little Albanian girl who will be 10 soon. Her name is Aulona. I wanted to write back to her this morning. When I think back of how the Lord asked me to get out of a boat and 'fix my eyes on him', I always remember how much He worked in our lives and how there is no way I could have stepped out without faith; courage didn't mean I was without fear. Little Aulona recently emailed. She is no longer in the US but back in Kosovo. When she came to live with us with her parents, she was not yet quite 1. Her birthday beholds a September 11 date...one that makes it easy to remember her birthday, and the year she was born was the year we had moved to TX....so I can remember her age. I got to see her and her family in May prior to them returning to a war-torn country that is slowly rebuilding. There are many things I can recall of how the Lord moved and still moves amongst us and with us...mainly to begin with...how could we assuredly feel we were supposed to welcome these people and love them as we would our own family when they were complete strangers??? Honestly, I haven't had that assurance of bringing other refugee families into our homes.....so why that one and not others? I don't know why...I'm utterly human with human faults....so maybe I'll never know until I die.....

But, as I read that email again from Aulona, such a fountain of joy floods my heart...in thinking of her and her parents and sisters, their relatives, and all of the other refugees we have met over the years....people that faced oppression, desired freedom, and wanted peace for their families....this particular family group led to us opening our hearts to other refugees--some we'd maybe wonder why we are suppose to welcome.

So many people today react and live off of fears of terrorism. Here is the little girl with a 9-11 birthday (though not 2001) and the greatest lesson the Lord taught me through her and her family is that God has already created a bridge for us to him and to others; we just have to choose to walk it. I remember when Aulona's mom called me on September 11, 2001. She was very sad over the event of the day and that people could somehow equate her muslim beliefs with those of being the same as the terrorists....But she knew I understood her situation, because, it was so-called 'christians' who went about persecuting and carrying out ethnic-cleansing campaigns against her people. She knew I did not blame her just as she learned that real Christians (emphasis on REAL) didn't believe in an ethnic-cleansing campaign against her ethnic group of people.

With all the hate and absurdity of things we see in everyday life, don't we wonder where it comes from? It comes from within us....things we do, things we pass on to others...to our children...through our families and down through the generations. Christ came and died for us to show us what love is....to give us an example to follow....not to plant hate nor carry out hate, but to tell us that God loves ALL of us. When Jesus's followers argued and disputed over the 10 commandments asking which of the commandments given to Moses was the greatest, Jesus said there are 2 new commandments.....commandments of the new covenant God brought to us through Christ because the people just weren't getting the point of the whole 10 commandments and what they truly boiled down to...

1. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind, and all your soul and strength....
2. Love your neighbor as yourself.

God tells us to love everyone...even our enemies. It is easy to love our family/ our friends...but the kind of love God is showing us is to teach us to get 'beyond ourselves' and love who He loves even in the midst of everyones' faults. When we are somehow blessed to be a part of this kind of love, we discover that we are so small, and God is so big.....His love, His forgiveness, His compassion, His mercy and grace. When the only way we can justify our actions is through God's command to love even when we don't know why we should really attempt to love, we know God has filled us in that moment to love someone He wants us to love. And in the end, we discover we are the ones that have been blessed, through God's working, by the other persons we wondered if we could somehow love. Maybe sometimes it is hard to put the face of Jesus on other people to see them through the eyes of Jesus, but when it is hardest to love, that is what I try to remind myself. When I can't and struggle, I try to see them as my own child and think of how I would want others to love and care for my own child....and then it is easier to understand the face of God is upon them and that God wants us to love--just as Jesus loved us enough to walk among us and love us even though we fall so far short of God's perfection.

"We love because he first loved us."--1John 4:19

I love 1 John 4; it is probably one of my favorite chapters of the Bible in addition to John 17. Some people might say that those who do not acknowledge Jesus as their Savior is not a brother or sister in Christ...but do we know who will be our brother or sister tomorrow? Therefore, I will remember that God's love is stronger and can overcome. I can remember His great commands. I can choose to love or hate....I'd rather love....and hopefully, the bridges get built for us to walk hand in hand towards God...well, the bridge is already there through Christ; we just sometimes choose to not walk hand in hand with others; it is we that just need to step out and walk toward Him and for others. My pastor once noted that 'much of the New Testament is not written for unbelievers..but for believers--followers of Jesus. He said we shouldn't expect 'non-believers' to act in accordance with the New Testament bc they don't understand it.....so the problem and failing isn't just that others aren't following God because they do not know Him; it is that somewhere, neither are we following God, and we are the ones with the bigger problem because we do know a part of Him but fail to listen. Despite others actions, we are to strive to follow God's example given to us through Jesus...not strive to react to others but to follow God in accordance with the Good News of Jesus.

So, when I think of Aulona, and the joy God brought into my life, I try to remember that God's plan is bigger than anything we can plan or foresee or do. I once was 'lucky' and found a blessing that God had there waiting for me that I did not see nor expect. And like her emails, more joy and blessings continue to be there as I wait for them to understand how much God loves them just as God waits for each and every one of us; therefore, let us 'love one another." This is not burdensome for God fills us with the love when we are willing. Let us not be a burden to ourselves.

Maybe this sounds jumbled to you, but it makes sense to me. I'm sharing bc I had a great blessing today in being given the opportunity to return an email that I loved receiving from Aulona. It is just that simple...the joy of the Lord.